For Christmas, I went to Madrid. My friend there told me that her 7-year-old granddaughter is transgender and identifies as a boy and wants to be referred to as “he.”
My friend said that her daughter and son-in-law, in order to deal with this, have sought counseling both for themselves and the child. As the child reaches adolescence, though, hormone treatments will become an issue. And that issue is for the individual, the family and the medical specialists. But in Utah, where political and spiritual confusion are widespread, our “representatives” dictate to us.
I thought of the song “God Bless America” and its phrase “let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,” sung by the Tabernacle Choir. I hope that the courts will step in and defend the rights that belong to all of us as American citizens.
For 50 years, Salt Lake City has had filthy air and, in my opinion, our legislators and governor are again exploiting a minority, this time transgender people, as political insurance. By doing so, they can mask being beholden to special interests, including those that pollute our air.
On December 28, I went with a friend to the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. There were thousands of people there, and the kids had toys that launch a little light high into the air. The light changes color as it floats down, and you can catch the toy and relaunch it. There were thousands of them, and they reminded me of the fireflies in the summer evenings when I was growing up in Virginia.
I envied the social cohesion of Spain, and realized that in the United States, a crowd like that would be worried about a mass shooter with a military-grade assault weapon who enjoys the protection of our legislature and governor.
How far down the abyss the Republican right has taken this country since 1980.
Whit Wirsing, Salt Lake City